History Is in the Land: Multivocal Tribal Traditions in Arizona's San Pedro Valley [Paperback]

T. J. Ferguson (Author), Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh (Author), Robert W. Preucel (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2006

Arizona’s San Pedro Valley is a natural corridor through which generations of native peoples have traveled for more than 12,000 years, and today many tribes consider it to be part of their ancestral homeland. This book explores the multiple cultural meanings, historical interpretations, and cosmological values of this extraordinary region by combining archaeological and historical sources with the ethnographic perspectives of four contemporary tribes: Tohono O’odham, Hopi, Zuni, and San Carlos Apache. Previous research in the San Pedro Valley has focused on scientific archaeology and documentary history, with a conspicuous absence of indigenous voices, yet Native Americans maintain oral traditions that provide an anthropological context for interpreting the history and archaeology of the valley. The San Pedro Ethnohistory Project was designed to redress this situation by visiting archaeological sites, studying museum collections, and interviewing tribal members to collect traditional histories. The information it gathered is arrayed in this book along with archaeological and documentary data to interpret the histories of Native American occupation of the San Pedro Valley. This work provides an example of the kind of interdisciplinary and politically conscious work made possible when Native Americans and archaeologists collaborate to study the past. As a methodological case study, it clearly articulates how scholars can work with Native American stakeholders to move beyond confrontations over who “owns” the past, yielding a more nuanced, multilayered, and relevant archaeology.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“ Together these scholars cogently lay out a coherent theory, method, and model for conducting collaborative archaeological ethnohistory in Native American communities, which will stand for many years to come as the archetype of interdisciplinary and politically conscious work.”—Journal of Anthropological Research

About the Author

T. J. Ferguson owns Anthropological Research, L.L.C., in Tucson, Arizona, where he is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona.

Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh is currently a visiting scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published widely on ethnohistory, indigenous peoples and archaeology, heritage management, and research ethics in such journals as the Anthropological Quarterly, the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, History and Anthropology, and the Journal of Social Archaeology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (April 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816525668
• ISBN-13: 978-0816525669
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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